A MONEY QUESTIOX. 129 



Eussian officers quartered, there is at least a semblance of 

 European cookery, and European cookery is an excellent 

 thing after a course of post-station fare. We next presented 

 our letter to the governor, a stout man, whose final cause, 

 as far as we could make out, was to serve as a receptacle 

 for Eussian decorations, the rage for which, in this country, 

 reminded us constantly of the South Sea Islander's passion 

 for a coat with brass buttons and a cocked hat ; the same 

 instinct prompts both. He told off two Cossacks to aid 

 us in crossing the streams which still mtervened between 

 us and Djulfa. 



Officialism is very rampant at Nakhitchevan. Our pass- 

 ports were long retained and anxiously studied by clerks 

 of every degree. After being led from custom-house to 

 police-office, from police-office to custom-house, for nearly 

 two hours, till our patience was wellnigh exhausted, we 

 were curtly asked by an official, ' how much money we had 

 got ? ' Being by this time fairly irritated, I answered, as 

 curtly, that he might find out. Our inquisitor persisted, 

 and it was not till the officials found we could be as 

 obstinate as they were, that they condescended to explain 

 that a convention existed between Eussia and Persia, by 

 which all money that had been registered before leaving 

 the Eussian territory could, if lost by robbery on Persian 

 soil, be recovered from the Shah's Government. As the 

 custom-house is twenty-five miles distant from the actual 

 frontier, the money has to be registered at Nakhitchevan, 

 where it is tied up (in the present instance in my pocket- 

 handkerchief) and sealed with the double eagle, not to be 

 broken until the moment before the ferry-boat leaves the 

 Eussian soil. This is the official story ; the real object I 

 believe to be, to prevent the exportation of Eussian silver, 

 which is scarce enough already. When treated Avith 

 civility, we made no further difficulty, and handed over our 



K 



